LUCK OF IRISH: One million signatures are in. Another half million needed to submit by St. Patrick’s Day (March 17) to qualify ’21 recall of Governor Gavin Newsom 
and election of his replacement.
His Chief of Staff Ann O’Leary is off to Washington DC to work for President Joe Biden
this month as new A-team Jim DeBoo and Dee Dee Myers 
transition in. Myers becomes Senior Advisor and Newsom’s cabinet level secretary for Business and Economic Development and DeBoo as Executive Secretary brings state legislative, health and housing industry guangxi as COVID strains California health care, economy, evictions and state patience despite Newsom testing positive for high ratings but rising negative polling in late Nov. (tinyurl.com/y2ejb2aa)…O’Leary’s departure comes after Newsom double appointment plays after Nov. 3 election. Assembly member Shirley Weber 
of San Diego and co-sponsor of defeated Prop. 16 California constitutional amendment restoring affirmative action ascends to Calif. Secretary of State for Alex Padilla 
now filling Kamala Harris 
remaining two years in US Senate seat now that she’s Vice President. Weber and Padilla can run for reelection in ’22 when Newsom is also up, assuming he’s not recalled…Next double play is Harris’s prior state office, Attorney General where Xavier Becerra 
awaits confirmation as Biden’s Health and Human Services Secretary…
LEGAL APA POOL, SLIM DEM: Oakland’s Assembly member Rob Bonta
, Filipino American out of Alameda and former San Francisco Deputy City Attorney, is being pushed for AG by FilAm community activists Al Perez 
and Marily Mondejar 
, State Treasurer Fiona Ma 
, Assemblyman David Chiu 
, prison reformer and CNN commentator Van Jones 
…Congress member Ted Lieu 
from LA and Beverly Hills has credentials as current House impeachment manager and judiciary subcommittee members on internet/intellectual property and homeland security…. Problem is slim House Democratic majority of 10 seats (tinyurl.com/kfj4jjf)… Marcia Fudge selected for Biden’s Housing Secretary, Deb Haaland 
to Interior and Cedric Richmond 
to President’s senior adviser leaves House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in precarious position. Bonta, Weber and Lieu have won lower profile district elections but don’t have track record of running and winning statewide as Padilla, Harris (who defeated Lieu for AG in ‘10) and Becerra have…
LUCKY LOV LIU: State Supreme Court Justice Goodwin Liu 
for AG by UC Berkeley School of Law Dean Erwin Chemerinsky op-ed…Liu’s path is less messy now that separated spouse O’Leary has left. Girlfriend could be BOGO deal a la 1992 Presidential candidate Bill Clinton’s selling pitch about future First Lady Hillary…Liu’s squeeze is Jane Kim 
, former ’20 state political director and campaign manager for Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders who won California Democratic presidential primary in March landslide over Biden and is likely to have “Bernicrats” heavily influencing California Democratic Party (they booed and endorsed more liberal and former Assembly Speaker Kevin DeLeon 
in ’18 over octogenarian and centrist US Senator Dianne Feinstein. She won reelection but has been seen as too chummy with Senate Judiciary Republicans like Lindsey Graham in Trump’s nominations of Brett Cavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett for US Supreme Court replacing swing justice Anthony Kennedy and “notorious” feminist icon Ruth Bader Ginsburg). Now Vermont and Democratic Socialist Senator chairs Democratic controlled US Senate Budget Committee…
DOUBLE STANDARD: Kim was part of progressive opposition as school board and county supervisor to then Mayor Newsom (2004-11). The former San Francisco Chinatown Korean American non-profit activist ran and lost narrow bids for State Senate in 2016 and Mayor in 2018. During elections, chittering about her Liu relationship hurt her in moderate-conservative Chinese American neighborhoods leading to election of gay Supervisor Scott Wiener for State Senate in ’16 and African American and Board of Supervisor President London Breed 
for mayor in ‘18….Unfair to Kim considering then Mayor Newsom’s more salacious 2007 relationship with aide’s wife whose husband was Newsom’s close friend and political confidante. Newsom apologized, stayed as Mayor and went on to Lt. Governor and Governor with glowing White House possibilities…Meanwhile Liu predated the dating and missed out on any political soap opera, easily winning election in ’14 as then Gov. Jerry Brown’s pick to State Supreme Court with two-thirds of California voters after US Senate derailed his 2011 federal appeals court judgeship confirmation under Barack Obama 
. That was seen as fast track appointment to US Supreme Court despite high but damning praise from conservatives like John Yoo 
who issued George W. Bush’s War on Terrorism torture policies and Ken Starr, special prosecutor in Bill Clinton 1998 impeachment. These arguments “for” Liu could be used in GOP strongholds as Kim gets socialist pal Bernie Sanders to back Goodwin for California AG …
DIEGO VS. DIEGO: As recall gains momentum, it’s flushing out GOP candidates to replace Newsom, including ’18 defeated gubernatorial nominee/businessman John Cox and former San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer. For every reactionary, there’s an activist as FilAm Democrat and newly sworn in San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria 
has opportunity to score points with Newsom and take pot shots at Faulconer’s push to recall. After California Democratic Party Rusty Hicks and his allies were told to hush about comparing recall to Jan. 6 Washington DC pro-Trump insurrection, Gloria might keep his powder dry to avoid stimulating more recall signatures, publicity and money to the recall which needs 1.5 million to qualify and half million as extra margin…
BAKERSFIELD ALAMO: Bakersfield as Alamo for California Republicans where House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy resides. While GOP splinters over his House caucus challenging legitimacy of Biden election and Trump impeachment, newly elected Republican Congressman David Valadao 
bolted ranks voting for impeachment in neighboring district primarily supporting national and statewide Democratic candidates since 2008. Their fates may determine futures of two APAs – Assemblyman Vince Fong 
, a Chinese American Republican and McCarthy’s former congressional district director, and former Congressman T.J. Cox 
, a Filipino American Democrat whom Valadao barely unseated to reclaim his old seat last November. Cox has already filed to run again in 2022…
MORE ON COMMA LA: Late father Stephen Soo of AsianWeek alum reporter Julie D. Soo 
(she’s only lawyer that starts and ends her name with abbreviation ‘JD’) gave Vice President Kamala Harris her Chinese name He Jin Li (Mandarin) or Ho Gam Lai (Cantonese) back in 2002-03 which was adopted by Chinese-language press and won her votes for San Francisco District Attorney… Professionally speaking, I generally don’t take photos with my subjects. However, there’s me photobombing Kamala in 2013 photo as the future VP was hosted by late publisher James Fang 
at law office reception when she was California Attorney General. You’ll see my mug reflected on a glass wall over her shoulder 10 years after she treated me to coffee and chocolate cake to chat about her run for San Francisco District Attorney in 2003…
SPEAKING OF MUGS: Jan. 6 insurrection at US Capitol reminded me of my eclectic collection of political memorabilia like a John F. Kennedy campaign button, New York Governor Mario Cuomo autograph of his 1984 “Shining City on Hill” Democratic National Convention speech text, nasty election hit piece in a can (!) against long time San Francisco Bay Area transit director James Fang, Hall of Famer Willie Mays autographed baseball (from a insider politico) and Tricky Dick Nixon dart board gifted to me from AsianWeek freelancer Christina Fa 
.
DICK’S PINS CAN BE PRICKLY: Then there’s this clear plastic cup smudged with lavender/purple lipstick I snagged in 2009. Lip prints of then House Speaker Nancy Pelosi sipping water and left behind as trash after press conference about her visit to China…Unlike one idiot insurrectionist, I didn’t trespass or trash her office, disobey federal police, prop my feet up on a Pelosi staffer’s desk and nab federal property…Although, I’d like to legally add that desk and chair to my collection…